Sometimes car events come along like buses, nothing for years and then two in one weekend.
On Saturday I went as a guest of my friend Tony to the Lotus 7/Caterham sixtieth anniversary at Donington Park. The drive there was exciting in itself and the weather was superb. It was great to see so many enthusiasts with their Caterham and Lotus 7 cars firstly all parked up and then be put through their paces on different track events. All the trials were just for fun so there was no timing or judging – just for fun.
On Sunday I was asked by a friend in the U3A to be navigator in his Austin Healey Sprite on a non-competitive classic car rally. I’d never navigated before using Tulip course notes so I was a little nervous but I needn’t have worried. From a field of approximately 70 cars we started early and before long we were catching up with those in front who allowed us to pass. I had a great time and only missed a couple of turns but we stayed on course and came in second at the Old Tile Works in Barton Upon Humber.
Not all the cars were true classics and included Porsche, BMW, MX5 etc. My Lotus Elise wouldn’t have been out-of-place so who knows, next year I might be driving a similar course through the Lincolnshire Wolds.
Ahem, MX-5, quite dull….?
Actually I can see what you mean; no chance of putting your knee or back out getting out of an MX-5, it has a boot you can put more than a toothbrush in and takes seconds to put the roof up or down – how very dull!
But then, we have previously clarified that I am completely unbiased….
Well, it is dull compared to the Lotus. There are thousands of MX5s around and that’s because it’s the best selling sports car of all time and it deserves to be but when it comes to head turning raw power it is difficult to equal the Elise. I came up behind an Audi R8 the other day on a dual carriageway and he thought he would out accelerate me but he gave up in the end. My rocket fuelled roller skate kept up with him all the way. Big smiles on my part.
If I need comfort and mild acceleration I’ll take another look at the MX5 RF but not yet…
Looks like a brilliant weekend Steve!
It was a very good weekend and has made me have second thoughts about keeping the Elise. It is so fast and iconic an MX5 would be quite dull alongside it. We shall see… 😉